Even Better Scanning Holder - make them for $2

[james_harris13]

<p>I have been reluctant to purchase an expensive glass negative holder or heaven forbid wet-mount for scanning medium format film on my Epson V700. Not only the cost, but trying to keep even more glass surfaces dust-free, Newton ring avoidance, etc. And yet film curl on the standard Epson negative holder is seriously bad. On the few well-shot negatives from my Mamiya6 that I have been able to convince to lay flat, I have been able to produce some very, very nice scans (6400 dpi 48-bit scans, downsampled to 3200 dpi). These scans are obviously sharper than the 2400 dpi everyone claims this scanner is capable of,and look great printed 30x30.<br>

So I came up with a solution to hold my negatives flat in the Epson holder, with no glass. I bought some of that $2 rubberized magnetic sheet material at the craft store, cut two pieces narrow enough to fit between two exposures, and placed them on the negative strip on opposite sides, so that they hold the negative flat between them. On 6x6 negatives, I used 3 sets of these and I was good to go! They are soft, flat, light, and narrow enough to not interfere with the holder height.<br>

They work great! Here is a negative being held flat by them...assuming I can figure out how to add it (I've never done this before).</p>

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[james_harris13]

<p>Here is a side view</p><div></div>

[james_harris13]

<p>And a bottom view</p><div></div>

[roger_smith4]

<p>This is a good idea- I'm going to try this! Thanks for sharing.<br _mce_bogus="1"></p>

[james_harris13]

<p>Thanks Roger,<br>

You can also use the magnetic strips to make 35mm strips that are curled sit down while you clamp them in. I generally don't get much curl with 35mm once I get them locked in.<br>

There is not enough room between adjacent exposures in 35mm to put the flatteners in between, but if you had a particular negative that you needed to lay flat for a really good scan, you could put these over the ends of the adjacent exposures, without damage to the emulsion.</p>

[janne_moren]

Good idea. I made thin plastic insets that wedge in the holder edges for the same effect. I don't use them much though; I flatten my MF film in a book for a day instead and scan them.

[User_1577653]

<p>Oooh, I like it! I'll have to give that a try with the MF film holder (the regular one that is) on my Nikon 9000. Thanks for the suggestion. </p>

[wdgodwin]

<p>James,<br>

Do you know the name or actual nomenclature of the product? What does the package contents indentify itself as?<br>

Thanx, David</p>

[robert lee]

<p>Check out the <a href="http://www.rochestermagnet.com/store.asp?pid=9298">Flexible Magnet Store</a>. Looks like one $30 roll will outfit the entire film using population of photo.net in proper film carriers.</p>

[kelly_flanigan1]

<p>Here I do the same thing often using strips of old Refrigerator door freebie calendars and an Xacto #11 blade.</p>

<p>I used this method on a "how to scan 116/616 negatives on an Epson 2450" when that scanner first came out; ie fall of 2001. This thread got nuked twice' 116/616 was not MF and not LF! There was no digital darkroom then or classic section either. I gave up mentioning this method; photo,net is more tolerant of digital now and experimenting.<br>

I have also used balsa strips; tape; old negative holders too</p>

<p>Another method is one side magnet strip; other side steel shim stock; galvalized strip; any steel scraps you have. You vary the steel/shim thickness to vary the Z height.</p>